Ultimate Painting @ Deaf Institute, 30 Sep

“I feel like we only attract people who want to go home straight after,” Jack Cooper half-jokes. “Be honest, you’re all going home after this.” He’s probably not wrong. Ultimate Painting, now on their third consecutive great record in as many years, have never been a band that excite as much as they tranquilize. When they truly hit their groove, about ten minutes into their set, it becomes difficult to imagine a more hypnotic experience.

Both channelling a soporific Brian Wilson, Cooper and James Hoare (of Veronica Falls fame)  provide much of tonight’s melodic magnetism, with the pair’s deep-rooted mutual adoration of 1960s effortlessness rarely unable to maintain attention. When they’re at their best, as they are on Central Park Blues, the psych-pop ardour that’s shared between the band and their crowd is totally transformative.

What the set lacks in diversity is more than atoned for by the immersive nature of their live show – and they do it without the clichéd lightshows that prop up fellow psych explorers. There are times, particularly during album tracks and cuts from latest record Dusk, wherein a lack of familiarity hinders the connection between the London band and a sold-out Deaf Institute, but it’s never long before attention is quickly re-tuned in the name of earworm perfection, familiar or not.

By its very nature, psychedelic revivalism is inherently void of new ideas, to a greater or lesser degree. Too often, though, the lack of enthusiasm and the reliance on cultural signifiers in these circles is blinding. As tonight goes to show, Ultimate Painting transcend that.